They might not have gotten the win in the semi-final round of District play against the Mountainburg Lady Dragons but the Hackett Sr High Lady Hornets still finished as winners. The Lady Hornets will go into 2A West Regional play with an 8-17 total play record. The Lady Hornets ended the District Tournament with a final score of 47-29 Mountainburg. “Rain Vaughn led us with 10 points followed by Madi Taylor with nine, Faith Thomas with six, and Autum Neal and Kayla Richardson had two points each,” said coach, Broc Adams.
“I was very impressed with the attitude they had all week, they weren’t scared of the competition. We just went out and played!” The Lady Hornets are gearing up to face the Flippin Lady Bobcats in the 2A West Regionals on Wednesday, February 26 at 4 p.m. in Eureka Springs. Flippin sits with a season record of 18-15 in the 2A-1 division. “Flippin is an extremely talented team. We lost to them earlier in the year, but we are playing much better basketball, so we are going up there with the mindset that we are going to compete! We want to control the things we can and see what happens. It’s a one-game season at this point and we are going to give it everything we have!” The winner of this game will go on to face either Mountainburg or Eureka Springs on Friday, February 28 at 4 p.m.
The #3 seeded Hackett Sr High Hornets made it to the semi-final round of the 2A-4 District Tournament to face the #2 seeded Hector Wildcats. Both teams hit the court hungry for a championship title and both teams were more than willing to fight for it. The game was all tied up with a few minutes left on the clock but unfortunately, Hector was able to pull away and come out on top with a 44-35 final score. “I am extremely proud of my guys! They played with so much grit and left zero gas in the tank.We were all square with Hector with 2:30 left to play and a couple of untuned turnovers were the difference in the game,” explained coach, Kent Elmore.
Zach Gragg led the Hornets with 13 points followed by Cash Oliver with 12, Dylan Kats with eight, and Jake Fisher with two. “The best thing about it is we still get to get after it and prepare for a regional tournament! The growth my guys have shown throughout the year is beyond words. I really felt like we played a great two games during district. I’m proud of my guys and really like our chances to advance in the regional tournament. My guys have proven that they will stick to a game plan no matter what it may be. We have a few days left to prepare and with my guys’ focus, we will be ready to play.”
The Hackett Hornets will face the Yellville Panthers in the 2A West Regional Tournament which is being held this year in Eureka Springs. The Hornets are going into regional play with a 9-15 season record and will be representing the 2A-4 district while the Panthers are 18-7 and going to bat for the 2A-1. This match-up will take place on Thursday, February 27 at 8:30 p.m. “The growth of our team since November has been a joy to watch. My guys don’t want the season to be over. That kind of buy-in goes a long way. Our goal is to win and advance! The Hornets will be ready for the battle!” The winner of this game will advance on to face either Lavaca or Decatur on Friday, February 28.
The Hackett Schools Gifted and Talented Education program was recently named the best program of its kind in Arkansas.
The Arkansas Governor’s Advisory Council for Gifted and Talented Education selected the Hackett School District to receive this year’s Act. 56 award for the most outstanding Gifted and Talented Education program in Arkansas in schools of less than 1000 students.
The award comes with $3000 to be used for the Gifted and Talented Education program at Hackett.
Hackett Gifted and Talented Education Coordinator Gayla Edwards accepted the award at the annual AGATE (Arkansans for Gifted and Talented Education) conference awards luncheon in Hot Springs.
Edwards stated: “We have outstanding Gifted and Talented Education programs in our school districts across Arkansas. I am proud to teach Gifted and Talented Education in Arkansas, and honored to accept this award for the Hackett School District. This achievement is due to support from school administration, teachers, all staff, students, parents, and community members. Thank you for your support for our school!”
Two Waldron Elementary student scientists, Kazyah Kinney and Justi Hunsucker, recently won first place at the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain’s 5th Annual Science Fair held at the college campus in Mena.
Their project was: “Do Dogs have a Color Preference?” and the girls proved that dogs do, in fact, have a color preference through experimentation, application and collecting and charting data.
Kinney and Hunsucker won first place in the Rich Mountain Elementary Student category and brought home a giant $250 prize money check and a plaque.
Congratulations to these two WES student scientists, who no doubt have a very bright future ahead of them!
One of the items of unfinished business before the Mansfield City Council during their regularly scheduled meeting on February 20, was new building permit fees.
The proposed fees discussed by the council during a recent study session included the following increases:
Residential $150 (old fee $100)
Commercial $.25 x sq. ft. (old fee $.04 x sq. ft.)
HVAC/R contractor $125 (old fee $75)
Plumbing contractor $125 (old fee $100)
Gas contractor $75 (old fee $25)
Electrical contractor $125 (old fee $75)
The new building permit fees were approved unanimously by the council.
The next item of business, employee boot replacement. This includes the public works department and police department. “This is a fringe benefit that will be added to our personnel policy manual,” stated Mayor Buddy Black. The fringe benefit addition states that “city employees required to wear boots shall be allowed, at the city’s expense, to purchase one pair of boots per 12 month period. The maximum amount the city will pay is $100 with replacement being issued at the end of a 12 month period from each purchase date. Any amount exceeding $100 will be at the employee’s expense.” The motion passed unanimously by the council.
In items of new business, the council voted to add an expiration date on city issued checks. Any city issued checks will be void after 90 days. Next, the discussion of increasing the fuel surcharge on water bills. Currently the city charges $2, and according to Mayor Black there hasn’t been an increase in “forever.” The proposed new fee is $4. “Mansfield does not charge for trash pickup, and all the other towns around do…We have to recoup some of our losses in sanitation.” The motion to increase the fuel surcharge passed unanimously. Also discussed, the increased dumping fee at the public works department for roll-off containers. The council voted to increase the fee from $10 to $15 per load.
Next, the council discussed the price increase for the City of Hartford’s waste water fees. “We were supposed to, according to the contract, look at it one year after the agreement. That has never been done, so we’re doing it now,” stated Black. Currently, both the City of Hartford and the City of Midland pay Mansfield $1.19 per thousand gallons of waste. The proposed new cost is $1.40 per thousand gallons. The council will have to revisit the City of Midland’s agreement at next month’s meeting. Black added that in a new contract, it will be noted that the costs will be looked at two years later, and every year after that. The motion to increase Hartford’s waste fee from $1.19 to $1.40 per thousand gallons passed unanimously.
One final item of new business, the city was offered eight acres of land near the City Lake property at $65,000. The council, however, declined to take any action on that offer.
At the Mansfield City Council meeting held on the evening February 20, council members voted unanimously to repeal and replace yard sale ordinance 2019-7 with ordinance 2020-1.
In the first section of that ordinance, the city sets forth definitions of garage, or yard sales. “‘Yard sale’ or ‘garage sale’ shall mean and include all general sales, open to the public, conducted from or any premises in any residential or commercial zone, as defined by the zoning ordinance…for the purpose of disposing of personal property including, but not limited to, all sales entitled ‘garage,’ ‘lawn,’ ‘yard,’ ‘attic,’ ‘porch,’ ‘room,’ ‘backyard,’ ‘patio,’ ‘flea market,’ or ‘rummage sale.'” This does not include businesses in a commercial zone where sales occur on a day to day business.
The ordinance goes on to define personal property, property owned, utilized or maintained by an individual or member of his or her residence and acquired in the normal course of living or in maintaining residence.
According to ordinance 2020-1, a permit is still required in order to conduct such a sale. That permit can be picked up at the public works department, and “members of more than one residence may join in obtaining a permit for a yard or garage sale.”
In order to obtain a permit, you must fill out an application within at least one day in advance of the proposed sale. That application requires the name, address, location and dates of the sale.
No more than five permits may be issued to one residential location, residence and/or family household during any calendar year. “If members or more than one residence join in requesting a permit, then such permit shall be considered as having been issued for each and all of such residences. No more than five permits may be issued for any commercial location during any calendar year.”
Additionally, sales cannot occur any earlier than 7 a.m., and last no longer than 6 p.m. on three consecutive days.
“Personal property offered for sale may be displayed within the residence, in a garage, carport, driveway, and/or in a front side or rear yard, but only in such areas. No personal property offered for sale at a yard/garage sale shall be displayed at any public right-of-way.”
The permit is to be posted on the premises in a place so it can be seen by the public, or any city official. Two signs of not more than four square feet shall be permitted to be displayed on the property of the residence or commercial site where the sale is being conducted. Signs are not allowed on the city right-of-way. Those signs, according to the ordinance, must be removed at the close of sale, but no longer than one day after the last day of the sale. No sign, or any other form of advertisement can be exhibited for more than two days before the sale.
Anyone found in violation of the ordinance will be subject to a penalty of $25 per day for each offense.
After an exciting week of district tournament championships, eight teams, four boys and four girls teams from each district now move on to the regional tournaments held around the state. The regionals are the next step toward each team’s ultimate goal of winning a state championship. Four teams, two boys and two girls teams from each region will qualify for the state tournament that will be held next week at Charleston High School. Teams will ultimately advance to the state finals for boys and girls that will be held a week later at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs on Friday, March 13.
This week, four regional tournaments will be held in Waldron, Jessieville, Searcy (Harding Academy), and in Monticello (Drew-Central). In this article, Resident Press will preview the teams and match-ups in the Waldron regional. The Waldron regional will feature teams from the Class 3A-1 (West) conference and the Class 3A East.
In the boys brackets, Elkins and Valley Springs are the number one seeds in the tournament. The number two seeds are Bergman and the host school, Waldron Bulldogs. The number three seeds are Charleston and Clinton. Rounding out the boys field are number four seeds Mountain View and Greenland.
The boys side of the Waldron regional brackets include two teams from the top five ranked teams in the state in Class 3A: number one ranked Valley Springs, and number five ranked Elkins, Just outside of the state’s top five is number six ranked Bergman. So, the boys brackets in this regional will feature a tough field, just as on the girls side of the regional brackets. Teams that can survive and advance to the state tournament will be heavily regarded as teams to beat next week in Charleston.
The boys tournament will open on Wednesday, February 26 with the following games:
BOYS
Game 1: #1 Elkins vs. #4 Mountain View, 5:30 p.m.
Game 3: #1 Valley Springs vs. #4 Greenland, 8:30 p.m.
February 27
Game 2: #2 Bergman vs. #3 Charleston, 5:30 p.m.
Game 4: #2 Waldron vs. #3 Clinton, 8:30 p.m.
For a copy of the Class 3A-1 boys regional brackets, click here to be re-directed to Max Preps to view or download your copy.
In the girls bracket, play will begin on February 26. Charleston and Valley Springs are the number one seeds in the tournament. The number two seeds are Mountain View and Elkins. The number three seeds are West Fork and Rose Bud, and the four seeds are Waldron and Bergman.
GIRLS
February 26
Game 1: #1 Charleston vs. #4 Bergman, 4 p.m.
Game 3: #1 Valley Springs vs. #4 Waldron, 7 p.m.
February 27
Game 2: #2 Mountain View vs. #3 West Fork, 4 p.m.
Game 4: #2 Elkins vs. #3 Rose Bud, 7 p.m.
For a copy of the girls Class 3A-1 regional brackets, click here to be re-directed to Max Preps to view or download your copy.
The Class 3A-1 regional girls tournament features three of the top four teams in the state in Class 3A: Number one-ranked Mountain View, number three-ranked Valley Springs, and number four-ranked Charleston. Bergman is ranked just outside the group at number six. Any team that survives the Waldron regional will be a strong contender in the state tournament, having already faced in regional play several of the top five ranked teams in the state.
Charleston First Round Games in Boys and Girls Regional
The Charleston Lady Tigers will open the tournament with a 4 p.m. game on Wednesday versus the Bergman Lady Panthers. Bergman’s colors are blue and gold and their school is located just northeast of Harrison. Bergman will travel 3 hours and 20 minutes to play in the Waldron regional. Bergman’s conference includes Mountain View, Rose Bud, Valley Springs, Marshall, Clinton, and Green Forest. The Lady Panthers finished the regular season 26-11 overall and 7-5 in conference play. Bergman averages 53.5 points per game shoots approximately 34% from the field. The Lady Panthers average 28 rebounds per game, as well as 7.3 steals per game. Bergman is ranked 33rd in Arkansas across all classifications, and 6th in Class 3A, according to Max Preps. Bergman and Charleston both played one common opponent, that being Lincoln on November 11. Bergman played Lincoln as a non-conference game in the Green Forest Queens of the Court Tournament where they defeated Lincoln 59-48.
The Charleston boys will also open the tournament versus Bergman. The Tigers will play the Panthers on Thursday, February 27 at 5:30 p.m. The Panthers are 30-7 overall and finished the regular season 9-3 in conference play. Bergman finished their conference regular season in third place behind first place Valley Springs who was 11-1, and second place Clinton who was 10-2. The Bergman boys are ranked 40th in Arkansas across all classifications and are ranked 6th in Class 3A. In common opponents with Charleston, Bergman lost to Waldron on December 8 in the UARM Classic by the score of 62-55. On December 11, the Panthers won a non-conference game against Greenland, 64-47. As of the publication time of this article, stats were not available with Max Preps for Bergman.
Every team in the Waldron regional has had a good season and has hopes of moving on to the state tournament. The top objective for every team is to win their first game in the regional tournament. A first round victory will ensure a team’s qualification to advance to next week’s state tournament. Two victories in the tournament will seed a team higher in the state tournament and give them a more favorable path in the tournament. But one thing is for sure, from this point on, there are no weak teams or easy games. Every team has had a winning season, and every team is a tough out.
It is the time of year where players enter each game knowing that it could be their last. Everyone wants to keep playing. No one wants to feel the sudden loss of defeat and know that they will be cleaning out their lockers for the last time this season. And for seniors on each team, it is that much more important to every senior who has invested their high school careers to get to this point.
It is the stuff that lifelong memories are made from; it can be the greatest time of a player’s life, and it can also be one that a player remembers for the rest of his or her life for all the wrong reasons. It is these anxious moments and circumstances that motivates each player and coach to give it every thing they have. It is what makes post-season play so special.
Congratulations to all of the teams in this year’s regional tournament, and best of luck in your quest to make the state tournament. And Resident Press will be there to tell the story.
The Arkansas Municipal League congratulates Becky Walker, who has achieved or maintained their status as a Certified Municipal Official through the League’s Voluntary Certified Continuing Education Program.
The certified municipal officials were honored during the opening night banquet at the League’s 2020 Winter Conference, held February 12-14 in Little Rock.
Numerous municipal officials representing cities and towns from across the state completed 15 core Level 1 hours and six continuing education hours of study in subjects such as budgeting, personnel management and methods of effective leadership. To maintain certification, graduates must complete six hours of continuing education workshops each year.
The program continues in 2020 with workshops held throughout the year at the League’s North Little Rock headquarters and in June at the League’s Annual Convention in Little Rock. The League is also expanding its certification program this year, offering Advanced Level 2 workshops for those who have achieved Level 1 status in addition to offering a new Certified Municipal Personnel designation for key municipal personnel such as department heads and finance directors.
The Arkansas Municipal League is a service and advocacy organization for the municipalities of Arkansas. The League offers its programs and services to 500 cities and towns in Arkansas and was created in 1934 to assist cities with information and representation in the public affairs of our state and nation. To find out more, please visit www.arml.org.
We’re still battling the elements in many places around Arkansas. The Arkansas River is running fast and high still. Another big rain on Tuesday put a rise to lake levels. Little Red River wade-fishing regulars are still waiting for the generation to slow down at Greers Ferry Dam. Fish can’t figure out the wide-ranging temps anymore than the anglers can. Here are some news items worth nothing, though: * Ralph Donnangelo, superintendent at Lake Fort Smith State Park, says the park’s new courtesy dock is completed and ready for use. * Guide Austin Kennedy said Wednesday that the Corps of Engineers were able to shut the gates at Beaver Lake Dam. Until then, with flood gates open a foot at the dam, fishing had been “kinda tricky,” he said, in the Beaver Lake tailwater. One of his clients landed a nice 19.5-inch rainbow, though. “If you hit the right area with the right baits, you could catch some fish,” Austin said. “Most of the trout were caught between the Highway 62 bridge and Spider Creek, and on light terminal tackle.” The walleye spawn is getting close there, he added. * Guide Shane Goodner, owner of Catch’em All Guide Service, reports that open flood gates and extremely high generation flows have continued for another week as heavy rainfall plagues the Carpenter Dam tailwater at the upper end of Lake Catherine. Fishing has stopped below Carpenter Dam in the treacherous conditions, he said. Entergy has scheduled this discharge pattern in an attempt to keep area lakes at the winter drawdown levels and to draw Lake Ouachita out of flood pool. Muddy water and very fast flows have been the norm for weeks on Lake Catherine and all anglers are advised to remain off the water until conditions return to normal. The drawdowns at lakes Hamilton and Catherine end on March 1. When the rain ends is another matter altogether.
